• 25 August 2026
• The Wildfire Series #3 ★★★★
4 Stars
From USA Today bestselling author Jewel E.
Ann comes a bittersweet second-chance romance about deferred love, impossible
timing, and the courage of choosing happiness after devastating loss.
Everleigh Reichart and William Landry fell hard—and far too
fast. Their weeklong romance ended the moment Will, a twenty-nine-year-old
firefighter, learned the truth: Everleigh was seventeen. He walked away to
protect them both. Destiny had other plans.
Eleven years later, Will is still running into burning
buildings, while Everleigh has become a brilliant psychiatrist. When a house
fire strands her on his land, their old feelings ignite like patient embers. But
she’s desperate to keep concealing the childhood trauma that has shaped her
life, and he’s struggling under the weight of his father’s terminal illness.
Too soon, the strain snaps their fragile reunion, flinging them farther apart
than ever before.
Now Everleigh must face her past to salvage a future with
Will…if he can accept that loving her includes the broken parts too. But first,
he needs to come and find her—this time by faith, not fate.
Everleigh + William
We all remember them from the previous books.
Everleigh is a 28 year old child genius turned psychiatrist and Will is a 40 year old firefighter.
Eleven years ago Will spent one week with what he thought was a 25 year old med school friend of his childhood buddie's future wife leading up to their wedding weekend.
He spent years scared that he'll be arrested for that last night!
Now they're working in the same town, trying not to run into each other too much.
And suddenly - after her house burned down - she's also kind of his new renter. LOL!
Well.
I loved it. I would've adored it completely, but I just can't get over the cringey age-gap situation. And yes, I know, he didn't know she was only 17 and it was only a month until her birthday. But still.
I might've been okay with it all if we had just mentioned it once and then spent the rest of the book in the present time. But nope - we go back in time and re-live every second they spent together back then. And that is just way too pedo for my tastes. It makes us hate Will for being attracted to her - even though he didn't know. It's just disgusting that Jewel is concentrating on the past so much. And it's even worse that Everleigh is a genius - that makes her emotional age even younger, because she never really had a childhood. Ugh. It was just so cringey disgusting for me. I mean, there are sexy age-gap books with a hot 30 year old professor and a 22 year old student... and then there's this really weird and illegal thing.
Also. I hate when people get fake boobs for no medical or psychological or trans reasons. I hated that Everleigh got fake boobs and that he liked them. Ew. Red flag. But that's just me.
But I still loved both Everleigh and Will and I loved their banter and flirting and arguing. This could've been an amazing second chance love story.
It was so funny and sparky and adorable and a bit sad and heartbreaking.
I really enjoyed the parts that made me forget the age gap thing!
WHEN THE SMOKE CLEARS was a sweet and funny and sparky and emotional second chance love story... with an unfortunately way too cringey (illegal!) age-gap situation.
↓ LINKS TO THE BOOK AND AUTHOR ↓
BOOK #2
OTHER BOOKS BY JEWEL:
Chain of Lakes Book #1
Sunday Morning Book #1
Sunday Morning Book #2
Jewel is a free-spirited romance junkie with a quirky sense of humor.
With 10 years of flossing lectures under her belt, she took early retirement from her dental hygiene career to stay home with her three awesome boys and manage the family business.
After her best friend of nearly 30 years suggested a few books from the Contemporary Romance genre, Jewel was hooked. Devouring two and three books a week but still craving more, she decided to practice sustainable reading, AKA writing.
When she’s not donning her cape and saving the planet one tree at a time, she enjoys yoga with friends, good food with family, rock climbing with her kids, watching How I Met Your Mother reruns, and of course…heart-wrenching, tear-jerking, panty-scorching novels.
